DhakaBoy

We are looking for a good preschool for our 4 year old child. We will move to Sydney in 6 weeks and will be looking to renting in the Sutherland Shire area. We don't have any preference for a suburb at this stage but thought it might be a good idea to rent close to our child's preschool. We are open to all suburbs Gymea, Miranda, Engadine, Heathcote, Carinbah and I don't even know the names of the rest.

Any general suggestions on settling down, renting, schooling, to-do's/don'ts etc. will also be graciously received. Every bit of information will be useful for us, new migrants.... thanks in advance!

quoll

Preschool places at this time of year for a 4 year old are going to be hard to find and you are almost better just finding a place to live which is convenient for where you will be working and then put him into school next year. Schools generally go with suburbs (they all have catchment areas) and if you wouldnt want to live in a suburb then you wouldnt want your child going to school in that suburb.

In NSW there isnt universal free preschool education so what you will be looking for is a paid child care centre and for convenience that may even be better to be where you will be working rather than where you will be living.

paddyo

Pre-school, called Long Day Care here, costs about $70 per day for a decent school. Lots around, so I would find a place to live first then sort out the day care. When are you looking at putting your 4 yr old into school, there is a choice. You can delay until he/she is 6, depends on your childs social and intellectual maturity.

LittleKittyCat

We live in Woronora Heights, and had awful trouble getting our two in to long day care/pre-school. We phoned every place in the directory, but because it was mid-year (last July) all of the places were gone. We found out by chance that a friend of a friend was moving areas, so there were two places coming available and (thankfully) no wait list, so we managed to get them in in the end. However, the pre-school is in Barden Ridge, so it is over an hours round trip twice a day to do the school and pre-school drop off.

Have a look here http://www.preschoolsnsw.org.au/find-a-preschool and also here http://www.careforkids.com.au/ and here http://www.shirechildcare.com.au/home and be prepared to do lots of phoning round and form filling for waitlists.

JustBecause

You may be able to get a place in a family day care, which has same hours as long day care but less kids & is in a carer's home as the name suggests. The one my 3yr old goes to has a space at the mo for example. They often have spaces for older kids as more older kids are in pre-schools so they need an older ones to balance the age range. Try this link shirechildcare.com.au (I think).

There are two KU preschools in the area - Sutherland & Heathcote. They probably have a website. It is worth checking to see if you can go on a waiting list but there will be a small fee. My son justgot a place at The Point, Oyster Bay, as they had two children leave so worth checking - otherwise places are normally allocated for starting in Jan/Feb.

The Montessori 3-6 program has spaces at Gymea & Sutherland but that really costs loads so not worth considering unless you are well into Montessori education.

Most places in the Shire are within 20-30minutes of each other depending on traffic so anywhere is do-able, just some are more convenient!

DhakaBoy

Waiting may not be such a good idea because he needs to learn English before he starts school! Well, English is not his native language and he will surely have an uphill task mingling with other kids initially. A supportive day-care is perhaps the way to go. A bit worried about how he will react to all this....

DhakaBoy

Thanks!

DhakaBoy

I'll check out the links, thanks!

DhakaBoy

As I understand, a paid childcare centre is perhaps the way to go initially. Thanks!

Red_V_Roger

This is the one by us the Shire...looks good from the outside, but we don't have rug rats so don't know anything further. http://www.loftuskindergarten.com.au

DhakaBoy

Thanks RedVRoger!

paddyo

Ask around, there may be a Long Day Care which has multi lingual carers which could help. But, be mindful, if they cannot communicate with him it could cause problems on both sides so make sure you discuss this with the prospective care people.

quoll

There will be some support when he goes to school so I wouldnt be panicking too much - and schools are better placed to provide support for kids who dont speak the language - far more than the child care centres are.

http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/studen...ograms/esl.php

All depending on when his birthday is, you might consider keeping him out of school until 2013

paddyo

School is another matter, its the child care now they are asking about.